Process for distilling shale



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H. S. REED ET AL PROCESS FOR DISTILLING SHALE 1925 2 Smets-sheet 2 Filed Oct 16 INVENTOR Patented Dec. 25, 1928,

UNITED vlLerares" fPArrzNroFFic.

HARRY S. REED, OF EAST/LANSING, AND RALPH D. LAMIE, OF LANSING, MICHIGAN.

raocnss Fon msm-ILLING snaar.

Application led October-1G, 1925. Serial No.62,855.

u The objects of this invention are: I.

First, to provide an improved method for N istilling shale which is rapidand highly eiicient.

Second, to provide an improved method for distillinv' which is continuous in operationg-the walls of the retort being automatically kept free fromaccumulations.-

Third, to provide an improved method for distilling shale in which the highly volatile and more valuable liquid by-products are distilled and saved with the least possible decomposition, thereby obtaining such products in their most valuable form.

` Objects pertaining to details and ecoli-r .omies of construction and operation will appear from the detailed ydescription to follow.' The invention is dened in the claims.

A structure which is a preferred means -for 'carrying out the method is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which.;

Fig. 1 is a general assembly view, the o-ii'? take being on-reduced scale, a part being a vertical longitudinal section throughthe apparatus, taken on line 1 1 of Figs. 2 and 3,' andthe retort being infull lines with part of its shellbroken away, the chimney structure being sectioned in p'art on. line 13 13 i of Fig. 12. The air forcing means 'is shown diagrammatically.

Fig. 2 is aI vertical cross section taken .on line 2 2 of Figs. 1, 12 and 13, showingl details `of the furnace.

Fig. -3 is an elevation end view .from-the driving endl ofthe retort,the'relation of the combustion chamber and Hue being indicated by dotted lines.

Fig. 41's an enlarged longitudinal sectional View of the retort taken on' irregular line 1 1 of Figs. 2 and" 3 and on line 4 4 of Figs. 5, 6, '7, 8 and 11, the feed 4screws appearing in full lines.

Fig. 5 is a cross section of the retort taken on line '5 5 of Fig. 4, showing the discharge'n dippersl and structure.

Fig. 6 is a cross section'talcen on line 6 6 of Fig. 4, showing the scalloped retaining plate at the discharge end of the retort.

Y Fig. 7 is a cross section taken on line 7 7 of Fig. 4, showing the partition retaining and grading platewithin the body7 of the re` tort.

Fig. 8 is 'a cross section taken on line 8 8 of Fig. 4', showing the feed screws.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the angular tumbling, grinding, scraping elements, of tetrahedral and diiierent angular forms.

FigglO is a perspective viewl of the balll tumbling milling elements.

Fig. 1l is a detail cross section taken on line 11 11 of Fig. 1, showing the adjustable supporting rolle-rs for the revolving retoit.

Fig. 12 is a detail plan view looking down on the top of the stack, air forcing means vbeing omitted. l

Fig. 13 is a detail vertical sectional .view

ltaken on line 13 18 of 12,)showing details of the flue structure and hot air supply to the furnacey burners, air l:pressure omitted.

Fig. 14 is a detail section taken on line 14 14 of Figs.' 1 and 4, showing details of the flushing pipe for steam or gas and the connections to the powdered fuel discharge udevice.

In the drawingsu similar reference numerals identify similar parts throughout the' views. 4 1 is the brick work of the furnace, which is provided with the usual fire brick lining. 2 is the chimney structure. 3` is a burner for the furnace. 4 is the cbmbustion chamberl or lire box. 5 is the heating chamber forheating thje retort. 6 is the direct lu`e from this chamn ber. 7 isthe auxiliary indirectiiue for directing heat to the preheater. 8 is the cylindrical f retort. 9 is the pr'eheater in the Dforni of a feed conduit trough, with .conveyor screw 91. 10 is the bunker or .hopper for supplying and feeding the shale. 11 is the telescopic feed connection to the lfeed means 12. 13 is the rdischarge for the residue from the retort 8., 140is the adjustable roller support.

15 is the driving gear for the retort. 16 is a steam supply. 17 is the vapor and gas outlet for the distilled material from the retort.

The furnace 1 may be heated in any suitable way, but gas for the `furnace is especially available, it being produced as a product of distillation. This is supplied to the burner .through pipe; 185 from the storage tank or gas holder 184. The gas burners deliver into. the combustion chamber and entrain ho-t air from-the down air flue from the .chimney which is under pressureas well. This heated air and products of com ustion are circulated in chamber 'around t en'retort 48 and then pass throughi'ue 6 to the chimney. Aportion of it .is by-passed through the auxiliary ue 7. The direct flue 6 is controlled by the damper l61 andthe fluel 7 is controlledfby lating the the heating the bottomof which is a propellerjfeed screw 122. A pair of small' semicircular troughs of different lengths are disposed above the feed screw 122, the shorter once -123 contain'- ing the feed screw 1124 and the longer one containing the feed. screw 126. These details are seen in Figs. 4 and 8. These feed screws a suitable gear train 127 of are Vactuated `by any convenient design, and they may be actuated separately or geared together in any Suitable and well-known way. This feed is made integral with the gas delivery 17 and in central spaced rela-tion therefrom. The multiple screws and feed troughs of different length deliver the shale evenly and distribute it in thev retort so that the heat is readily maintained and the material is quickly and evenly heated.

The retort 8 is made of steel boiler plate preferably, and cylindrical in form. ,It is supported on pairs of adjustable supporting rollers by which the relative elevation of the ends and the inclination may be controlled by suitable adjusting screw 142 of usual construction. The opposite ends of the .retort are provided with projecting tires 141 which rest on the rollers for controlling and permitting the rotation lof the same. An annular gear 15 is provided at the discharge end of the retort, adapted to be driven by any lsuitable power means, not necessary to be shown. T hese parts are all standard commercial devices. v

A residue discharge 13 for the retort is tubular in form and contains a screw conveyor 131 driven by a suitable gear or pulley 132 and delivers into the vertical telescopic discharge pipe 134 whichis controlled by a star valve 135 which maintains a gas tight connection at that point. The discharge 13 'is providedwith a suitable stuffing box connection to the head 81 of the retort 8. A pipe 1,6 is rovided to deliver steam or ixedgas into t e retort at "the driven-and discharge end.

The gas-of'ttake 17, as before indicate'clkis tubular in form and connected by stuffing- 'box 171.to the head 82 of the retort 8. This gas discharge connects to the telescopic gas off-take '18,Whichf delivers to condensers 181v and scrubbers 182.

The suction ump -183 draws olif the product, as indicate an d discharges. the non-condensible gas into the Vcharge chamber 88.

-ment 86.

A neeefvso holder'or gas tank 184, where it is available for use. A part is delivered through pipe 185 to the furnacefor fuel, as before indicated. -Th'e smoke and products of combustion pass up the smoke flue 21. The down air lues 22 are'disposed each side thereof and are separated by comparatively thin walls of fire brick-23. The heated air is delivered downwardly by the blow fan 221 .through header 222 and air connections 223 to the combustion burnersand is entrainedA by the burners and passes on to thel combustion' chamber for heating the retort (see Figs. 2 and 13).' j The retort 8 is divided by partitions 83. 83 and 84, into distilling chambers 85, 8G and 87 and discharge chamber 88. The partitions'83 l are scalloped around the edges at'831 and contain a series of radial slots 832 of appro-- priate size'to retain the milling and tumbling elements 'in each chamber and provide a passage'to lthe next succeeding chamber to persmit the shale which is being distilled to pass freely on. Fine particles pass` lordinarily througlrthe scallops 831. The partition 84 is not'perforated and is scalloped at 841 and permitsthe verized residue from the shale intothe dis- Within the discharge chamber .88 and connected to the walls' thereof are a series of buckets 881 which are disposed radially and are adapted to lconvey the residue from the shale upwardly and discharge it into the fixed hopper 136 which delivers into the discharge conduit 13, where the feed screw 131 discharges the same, as indicated. l

In the first ormain distilling chamber 85 we suppl ,milling and scraping elements of l l heat con ucting material, preferably chilled cast iron, which are angular in fornnas indicated in Fig. 9, some having square ends and some shown etet'rahedral.A sary that these elements and a scraping edge. In the first chamber some of these irregular elements are three inches. and' some six inches in diameter or 'cross' sectionv in their shortest diameter.

With these we provide a quantity of balls or round elements (see Fig. 10), the exact spherical formmot being essential, from three to six inches in Ddiameter to assist in the flo-w discharge of the thoroughly pul-t It is only neceshave one flat side or tumbling of the angular scraping milling elements sojthat they will scrape the sides of the retort and free it of any accumulation due to the fluxing of the lshale that is being dis/ tilled. Also, the angular that the milling-elements are all kept clean,v while at the same timeA scraping and cleaning the retort, 'j

The shale is thus broken up as soon as itq is fluxed in the process of distilling and the reduced pices passed to the' second cbmpa'rt- The-sticky condition ofthe distilling mass is overcomet in the 4first chamber.

12o scraping elements i serve to clean the balls and the balls react so In'lthe second compartment the pieces are further Aconsiderabl reduced in size and similar millinfr andyscraping elements are made use of, fiom one and `one-half to two inchesoin diameter, with p-referably a somewhat increased proportionv ofba-lls. These further pulverize the material`, break up the discharge chamber88 and carried away, as-

indicated.

-The pipe 16 delivers steam or fixed gas axially through the stuffing box 161 through the hollow shaft of t-he screw feed 131 into the third distilling chamber 87, steambeing preferred. The volume of steam delivered,

at this oint quickly7 carries along with it all of the distilled products and carries them off through the gas discharge 17 to the gas offtake 'pipe 18, as before indicated. Because of the passage of this steam the distillate is not unduly heated and is passed off before it is injured, and the cracking o f any of the products of distillation is thus reduced.

. Havingv described the complete apparatus,-

We will indicate its course of operation. The shale in the hopper 10 drops into the preheater .9 where it is carried forward by the feed screw 91, thence through the feed pipe 11 to the multiple feed screw 12 where it is delivered into the first compartment 85 of the retort 8. The retort is heated on all sides by the products of combustion circulating around the same, as indicated, and the heating of the preheater is controlled by adjustment of the dampers 61 and 71, as pointed out. 1 Shale is distributed in the retort chamber S5 by the three feed screws 122, 123 and 125, as'indicated. In this retort are the tumbling milling and scraping bodies, about half of which are round and from three to six inches in diameter, and the remainder are of angular scraper formwas illustrated in Fig. 9. As the retort is slowly revolved and is adjusted to the proper inclination for theaparticular grade or kind of sha-le, the shale advances in the same and is heated by these milling and scraping bodies and by the heated walls of the retort. The shale quickly fluxes and this tends to adhere to the walls ofthe retort orv to the heating-bodies, but this is prevented by the angular elements because the motion imparted to these bodies by the rotation of the retort is less than the speed ofeither the periphery of the retort or the round milling bodies. Hence they act as scraping devices and keep the walls of the retort and the surface of the round milling elements and themselves free from any hard carbonaceous de.- posit .which would insulate or cut down thefree heat transfer of these elements coacting with eachother and the surface of the retort. Further, by reason of these angular elements,` an irregular snake-like movement is imparted to the whole mass Within the retort, thereby assisting in scraping the inner walls of the retort and advancing the charge through the chamber.l The entire mass is broken and then dried out and becomes more or less like coke in charac-ter, and passesreadily through the first-partition' to the second distilling chamber 86.` There the milling elenlents'are ot' the same character but of smaller size.` They act upon the shale to reduce it to smaller dimensions and it is still further distilled and thence passed to the v and of the'same character, the proportion of the balls being increased.' The entire residue of the shale is here ground to a fine powder and delivered to the discharge chamber 88. All of the recoverable volatiles have thus been distilled off.

The vapors that are developed by the heat would soon be cracked and injured if allowed to remain in thehot retort. They are carried away by a current of stea-m coming through the pipe 16 in a small volume which is Isuperheated and expanded; The steam circulates freely through the retort and takes up any of the vapors and passes them along through the outlet 17'to the gas take-off 18. `There they pass tothe condensers 181 and scrubbers 182. Where the shale oil fformed during the distillation is condensed and recovered in the usual way, the vapors formed during distillation and passing through pipe 18 are drawn through the condensing and scrubbing system by gasvpump 183. The mon-condensib-le use in the furnace, which uses a part of the] Sameto maintain the required temperature. There is still an amount of gas that is available for .generaluse for various purposes, as in internal combustion engines or gas furnaces. All of the volatile products have been recovered by this method, in their most valuable'form. l

The heat is very much conserved by our improved apparatus. As soon as it hasVdone its w'ork of distillation, it is passed to the uptake flue -Where it heats the air in the down air flues which deliver this heated air to the burners and furnace to helpmaintainconxbustion. thereby conserved.` A considerable amount o f the volatiles of the shale would be recovered readily in a single retort, like the compartment 85, but by providing the same in The heat contained'in the air is the volatile content will be recoverable,

stepsl and reducing the size of theinilling elements, it is` found that substantially all ot' and by making use of the usual condensers fand `scrubbers the samevis made available, either as liquid or gaseous products of thevarious forms derivable from the particular shale being distilled. A

By dividing the retort. into separate compartments the mass of milling and scraping elements can be" disposed throughout the length of the retort as necessary for greatest 'eliiciency For example, the plastic state of the shale during distillation occurs in the iii-st` chamber, therefore a greater heat trans- -ier and milling and scraping action are necessary, and so in this chamber we introduce a greater weight of larger milling and scraping elements.

shale in an externally heated sealed tumbling barre-l ball mill retort, subdivided by orami- Anous partitions into several diii'ei'ent ball mill chambers, each succeeding partit-ion having progressively smaller openings, each succeeding chamber containing progressively smaller angular grinding elements and ballgrinding elements of heat conducting material, and oi' a size to be retained by each said foramino-us partition, consisting in, reduci-ng the shale to a lumpy condition, prelieating theoil shale I lump, then introducing the pre-heated oil shale in the lump form into the ball mill chamber containing the largest grinding ele- 1nents, heating the shalev until tluxing begins,

and grin ding the fluxed portion away,`screen ing the ground mass tothe ynext adjoining ball mill chamber, repeating t-h'ese'steps of heating, grinding, and screening until the spent shale is reducedto a powder and simuly taneously iusliing'the distilled products from the retort, with steam to carry away the vola-Y tile products of distillation.

.2.- The continuous process of distilling oil shale in an externallya heated sealed tumbling :barrel ball mill retort sub ividd byoraniinous artitions into severa dierent ball mill chain iers, and each succeeding partitie-,n havl ing progressively smallerv openings, each sueceeding chamber containing progressively .smaller angular grinding elements and -ball grinding elements ofheatconductingmaterial, and of a. size to be retained by each said foraminous partition consisting in .reducing the f oil shale to a lumpy condition, pre-heating the oil shale lumps, then introducing the preheated oil shale in the form of lumps into the ball mill chamber containing the lai-gest grinding elements, heating the shale until lluxin'g begins, and grinding the iiuxe'd portion away, screening the ground mass to the next adjoining ball mill chamber, repeating these steps of heating, grinding and screening until the spent shale is reduced to a powder andsimultaneously flushing the distilled products from the retort'with a gaseous inedium inert to the distilled products to carry away the volatile products of distillation.

3. `The continuous process ot' distilling oil shale in an externally heated sealed tumbling l barrel ball mill retort subdivided by foraminous partitions 'into several diil'erent ball mill chambers, and each succeeding partition hav'- ing progressively smaller openings, each. suc- -ceedin chamber containinfr rofrressively smaller angular grinding elements and ball 'grinding elements of heat. conducting material, and of a size to be retainedjby each said foraminous partition consisting in reducing the oil shale to a lumpy condition, then introducing the oil shale in the form of lumps into the ball mill chamber containing the largest.

grinding elements, lheating the shale until tluXing begins, and grinding the fiuxed portion away, screening the ground mass to--t'he next adjoining ball mill chamber, repeating these steps of heating, grinding and, screening until the spent shale is reduced to a powder andv simultaneously flushing the. distilled products from the retort with agaseousinedium inert to the distilled products to carry away the volatile products of distillation.

4. vThe continuousprocess of. distilling oil bearing sha-le in an externally heated sealed tumbling barrel ball mill retort containing angular grinding elements and ball grinding elements of heat conducting material admixed in proportion to insure the. flowing tumbling action of such grinding elementsl consisting in, continuously introducing and subjecting shale in alumpy condition tothe simultaneoug'tumbling action resulting from the rotationof said retort and the grinding act-ion of the baoll and angular eleinents'to 'progressively heat the said shale lumps until fluxmg begins at the surface, grinding away the fluxed part and repeating the operation -on v`the residuary lump-s until the volatiles are distilledaway and the spent shale is-reduced to 'a powder and discharged and simultaneousl flushing the distilled products from l the retort with a gaseous .medium inert to the distilled products tocarry away the volatile products of distillation.

, In witness whereof we our hands. "7^,-

HR'RY s. REED; RALPH D; LAMIE.

have hereunto se 

